Brick container



June 20, 1939. D MAGRUD'ER ET AL 2,163,097

BRICK CONTAINER Filed April 22, 1937 Patented June 20, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE BRICK CONTAINER Application April 22,

1 Claim.

In packing bricks into railroad cars, trucks, or the like, as well as stacking them. into piles, considerable amounts of bricks are broken during the handling and packing as well as in the course :5 of transportation because of the jarring effect of the motion of the vehicle carrying the same. Moreover during the packing, handling and transportation of bricks, especially bricks having glazed surfaces, the rubbing and jarring effect in the handling and transportation causes scratching and marring of the glazed surfaces thereof which reduces their value and salability. Even when stacked in layersand tiers with some material such as straw or cardboard between the layers, the possibility of breakage and scratching is not materially reduced because the vertical sides of adjacent bricks jar against'one another and cause damage thereto.

The I present invention provides a method of packing bricks, tiles, or the like, whereby the above disadvantages are eliminated, and further provides a protecting container for such bricks,

tiles, or the like to be utilized in carrying out this method of packing and handling the same. The protective container consists initially of a blank of corrugated sheet material, such as strawboard, cardboard, or the like, constructed with longitudinal and lateral fold lines at right angles to one another, demarking portions, which, when creased along said fold lines, form hinged sides of a container, having a bottom and two sides rigidly interlocked by novel means including tab and slot provisions Within which bricks are adapted to be emplaced for handling .35 the same and stacking them in piles. The corrugations of the blank are availed of in a peculiar novel manner as later pointed out.

In the use of this method of piling or stacking bricks, each container will contain a number of bricks between adjacent of which card-board separators or partitions may be placed, and when a number of such containers are stacked in layers and tiers, the bottom and sides of one container will serve to separate the bricks in that :45 container from the unprotected top and sides of the bricks in an adjacent container below or to one side thereof.

The protective container, of the invention is further provided with interlocking slotted portions serving to interconnect two adjacent sides when they are creased along the fold lines to form the two-sided container. The protective container and method of handling and packing ricks in the use thereof is advantageous not only for the reasons above stated, but additional- 1937, Serial No. 138,415

ly, because in shipment of the containers from the paper plant or manufactory to the place of use they are in the form of sheets, and, therefore, may be packed flat witha consequent economy of space required for their transportation.

Upon their arrival at the place of use, they may be simply and-quickly assenrbled into protecting and containing condition, and the slotted portions and fold lines arearranged in such relation with respect to the longitudinal corrugations of the sheet material used, that when the containers are in assembled condition, the interlocking tab portion when interlocked with one of the sides has a reinforcing effect With respect thereto and the said side has the same effect with respect to the tab because of the fact that the longitudinal corrugations of the tab and side are at right angles to one another when the container is in assembled condition, the corrugations running the vertical length of the tab and thus tending to prevent lateral creasing or breaking thereof.

In the use of the protective container of the present invention, a further advantage appears in that the side thereof against which the one end of each brick contained therein abuts also has the longitudinal corrugations running in a vertical direction. In the packing of bricks in cars, the length and width of said cars often does not permit the emplacing therein of an even number of bricks side by side, so that when the end or a side ofa car is reached in the packing of bricks therein, there is often .left only space for one or two bricks. The container of the present invention may be easily broken along the vertical corrugation of one of the sides in such a manner as to contain only the required number of bricks to fit into the space left.

Other objects and advantages will appear upon reference to the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a protecting container .of the invention in assembled condition with bricks emplaced therein.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank of material from which the protective container is formed, showing slots and fold lines.

Figure 3 is a perspective View of a spacer or partition member adapted to separate the bricks in each protective container.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a pile of bricks contained in a number of the protective containers of the invention, showing the method of piling the same.

The protective container is formed from a blank of sheet material such as strawboard, cardboard, or the like, generally designated A, having fold lines I and 2, demarking the body portion B and sides 3 and 4. A slit 5 extends transversely of the side 3 to the intersection 6 of the fold lines I and 2. Thus there is formed a flap portion I as an extension of the side 4 and separated from the side 3.

Extending at an angle from the slit 5 inwardly of the flap portion 1 is a slot 8 serving to separate a part of the locking tab 9 from the rest of the corner flap portion I. Side 3 is formed with another slot I0, extending transversely from the outer portion thereof to a point intermediate said outer portion and fold line I and parallel to the slit 5.

It is important here to note that the longitudinal corrugations of the material of the sheet A run in the direction of the arrows as indicated at II, which, as will be seen from Figure'2, is parallel to the length of the side 3, parallel to the length of the locking tab 9, and at right angles to the length of the side 4.

In assembling the blank shown in Figure 2, into assembled condition, as shown in Figure 1, the side portion 3 is creased along the fold line I and bent to vertical position with respect to the bodyrportion B. The side portion 4 is creased along the fold line 2 and bent to vertical position with respect to the body B, the latter forming a bottom member.

The corner flap member] is creased along the fold line I and bent to a position at right angles with respect to the side 4 and parallel to the side 3, the flap I being positioned inwardly of the side 3. The locking tab 9 is then inserted through the slot I so that its longitudinal direction in assembled condition lies transversely of the side 3 and exterior thereof. While it is desirable that the slot 8' extend at a right angle with respect to the slit 5, because under such conditions a more positive locking effect between the flap I and the side 3 is attained when the locking tab 9 is inserted through the slot I0, so as to be positioned exterior of the side 3, the slot 8 may, however, be formed at an angle other than a right angle with respect to the slit and in such case may have an advantage over the slot formed at right angles to the slit 5 in that in the former case the insertion of the tab 9 through the slot ID will be facilitated.

As above pointed out, the longitudinal corrugations of the sheet material A run in the direction of the arrow I I so that the lines of corrugation in the corner flap portion 1 are continuations of the lines of corrugation of the side portion 3 though the flap portion I is separated from said side portion when the blank is in flat condition. However, in assembled condition with the sides 3 and 4 bent at right angles to the body portion B and the locking tab inserted through the slot II], the corrugations of the said locking tab willbe seen, upon reference to Figure 1, to run in a direction transverse to the direction of the corrugations in the side 3.-

There is an advantage in this fact in that these corrugations have a reinforcing effect in the direction of the vertical length of the tab 9 such as to counteract any tendency of the said tab to be broken in a transverse direction and thus reduce its interlocking effectiveness. A further advantage arising from the fact that the corrugations of the locking tab and side 3 run at right angles to each other when the parts of .the container are in assembled condition exhibits itself in the reinforcing effect of the locking tab with respect to the side 3 and vice versa. When the protective containers are assembled in the condition of Figure 1, in use, bricks I2 are placed therein, as shown in said figure, with their narrow dimension downward and resting on the body portion B of said container. Spacer or partition members I3 are placed between adjacent bricks to protect the vertical faces thereof.

In practise it has been found desirable to design the protective containers of the invention to contain four bricks of the usual size, though, of course. the containers may be designed to contain more or less than that number. However, the desirability of utilizing containers holding four bricks has been demonstrated in practical use, as highly efficient.

, As will be seen upon reference to Figure 4, units consisting of a number of the protective containers of the invention each containing several bricks are stacked in tiers and layers, the top and two sides of each such unit, as shown in Figure 1 being unprotected except by the bottom and two closed sides of the container unit above or to one side thereof, when a number of such units are stacked, as shown in Figure 4.

It will, therefore, be seen that the sides of one container protect not only the bricks thereof, but

prevent their abutment with the bricks of a container next to it and thus does the bottom of each container protect not only the bricks thereof,

but prevents their scratching, marring or breaking the bricks of a container below it.

Assuming the condition in which the bricks are packed in protective containers of the invention, as in Figure 4, in a freight car, or other vehicle, where the workmen loading the bricks into the vehicle have so loaded the same that there is yet room for more bricks, but the space left is not such as will contain another tier of units of four bricks such as shown in Figure 1, but perhaps will accommodate a tier of units comprising two bricks, or three bricks. The workmen merely remove one brick from each contaiser, easily tear the containers at the point I4 in Figure 1, if units 7 that the corrugations in the side 4 run vertically,

and in the bottom B of the container run in the direction of the length of the bricks. This characteristic, in respect to the corrugations of the strawboard, or card-board of the container, thus lends itself to increasing the speed, facility and economy of handling the stacking of bricks in accordance with the method of the present invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

' A protective container blank of corrugated material comprising a main body portion and side portions adapted to be folded along intersecting fold lines to vertical position respecting said main body portion, adjacent of said side portions being separated along one of said fold lines whereby one of said side .portions is provided with a flap portion adapted to be positioned vertically relative to said side portion and substantially parallel. to the other of said side portions when said side portions are positioned vertically rematerial extending longitudinally of the tab portion and said latter side portion, whereby said latter side portion and said flap portion will reinforce one another when the same are in interlocked condition and said tab portion will be reinforced against breakage thereof.

WALTER D. MAGRUDER. GLENN L. ECREMENT. 

